NETech

CANCELED: 2020 Annual Summit & Tradeshow
2020-06-11 07:30 - 16:00 UTC | Holiday Inn by the Bay, 88 Spring St., Portland, ME, 88 Spring St, Portland
Unfortunately the MTUG 33rd Annual I.T. Summit & Tradeshow has been canceled due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic.

MTUG’s board and staff are actively planning for an alternative/rescheduled program of informative, timely online sessions.
Please watch the MTUG home page for announcements for a new, expanded calendar of webinars and resource offerings. And, please Save the Date for MTUG’s 2021 Summit — scheduled for Tuesday, October 5th, 2021.

The MTUG Summit & Tradeshow is Maine’s largest business tech event, with 500+ tech professionals, 50+ exhibit booth packages, 15 competitively-selected
workshops, 2+ food events, and plenty of door prizes.

Webinar: DNS New World Order - QuadX! DoH! DoT!
2020-05-27 11:00 - 12:00 | ME
DNS is the fundamental glue that makes the Internet function, but it often goes unloved — unless you are an ISP looking to further monetize subscribers, or you are trying to track malware on your network. Recently, new ways to provide and secure DNS for end-users have been created and are being rolled out in some browsers. Additionally, there are multiple vendors offering the use of easy to remember public DNS resolvers.
Technology Consultant and NNENIX director, Jim Troutman, covers the technical aspects of DNS over HTTPS (DoH), DNS over TLS (DoT), original RFC882 DNS, and discuss various privacy and operations challenges that are looming.

MTUG thanks volunteer board member Austin Brower for assistance coordinating this session.

Webinar: BYOTech & Nosh - A Smart Home Walkthrough with Sam Gaudet
2020-04-29 16:00 - 17:00 | ME
Cheers! Sam Gaudet walked us through his modest smart home setup, and shared his endeavors and decision-making process for various parts of his solution. Recording available by the end of May; Materials List available below.
Having lights turn on as dusk, turning a car on with your voice, adjusting the thermostat from anywhere in the world are just a few of the simple, but convenient tasks that Sam will demonstrate. Feel free to invite any homeschooling teenagers as well!
Sam’s List of Materials for His Setup: https://github.com/sgaudet/sgaudet.github.io/blob/master/mtug-smart-home.md
On our first-ever “BYO Tech & Nosh” we featured Maine / Northern-New-England sourced beverages/snacks our host, speaker, and select viewers bring to the session. Share with us about your fare of choice during BYO Tech & Nosh in the chat feature and we’ll call it out at these events! Email us in advance at programs(at)mtug.org and — if your beverage/snack comes from an establishment with a good online product listing and/or order form — we’ll include it in our announcements! Must be online by 4pm to play along!
What is the purpose of the BYO Tech & Nosh webinars?

Many of us are working remotely at home with whatever equipment we have — these sessions may include sharing of the tech tweaks for our home environments. Sessions may also cover less-business-focused “after-work” tech subjects.
MTUG’s “Peers & Beers” sessions are not possible right now — but there are lots of local vittles vendors we’d love to feature! Share with us your local baked goods, libation, take-out vendors of choice — we’ll get your favorite Maine/NorthN.E. purveyors some visibility!

MTUG thanks volunteer board members Mark Hopper and Eugene Slobodzian for their assistance coordinating this session

Webinar: Microsoft Teams - Remote Collaboration in the Time of Pandemic
2020-03-25 11:00 - 12:00 | ME
On March 25, 2020, we heard from two organizations trying to make remote work “work” over their existing Microsoft Teams infrastructure during the current global pandemic. Please enjoy the attached recorded video of this session.
Amanda Downing of L.L.Bean presents their experience deploying Microsoft Teams for workgroups, leveraging Teams conversation based workload management, chat, meetings, and connections to other O365 applications. She shares an earlier “day in the life” remote worker profile, as imagined when some employees had to work remotely due to office construction. Amanda then reveals what they’ve learned during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic crisis, and which aspects of Teams have turned out most valuable. Amanda also demonstrates portions of their environment in her discussion.
Roo Dunn opens with H+K Strategies global Teams migration experience: organizational integrations with MS Teams components, why, when, and how. Then he shifts toward their late-deployment reality — the global COVID-19 pandemic — and discusses lessons learned so far as some strategies shifted “on the fly.”

MTUG thanks our volunteer board members Kristen Kucera and Joe Bourgault for assistance in coordinating the topic and speakers for this session.

Webinar: Economy, Demographics, and Meeting Maine's Technical Workforce Needs
2020-02-26 11:00 - 12:00 | ME
Join MTUG for the big picture discussion of Maines economy, demographics and how it impacts our unique challenge for meeting the tech-skilled workforce needs of all Maine businesses.
Amanda Rector, State Economist of Maine, will present on “Maines Economic and Demographic Outlook” — an overview of Maines current economic and demographic conditions, and the outlook for population, employment, and macroeconomic trends. In this presentation with MTUG, Amanda will bring some additional information on tech-related sectors in Maine, as well as educational trends, to give the background of the forces impacting Maine businesses in their ability to find and employ a skilled technical workforce.
Jeremy Qualls, Dean of the College of Science, Technology, and Health at USM, will present his experiences “Advancing STEM programs and the Technical Workforce” at the University of Southern Maine. USM — a regional, liberal arts, comprehensive public university with campuses in Portland, Gorham, and Lewiston, is charged with addressing both Maines workforce challenges and serving the higher education needs of northern New England. This two part mission presents numerous educational and STEM pathway opportunities and challenges. Jeremy will provide an assessment of trends in STEM education, and introduce new programs and initiatives at USM designed to meet these opportunities.

MTUG thanks volunteer board members Uli Stewart, Ron Brown & Tonia Ennis for arranging for this session’s speakers & topic.

Saco Peers & Beers at "Run of the Mill" - TOPIC: Launching a Tech Startup in Maine
2020-01-29 16:30 - 18:30 | ME
MTUG and a great crew of over 35 gathered at “Run of the Mill” Public House & Brewery Wed. Jan. 29 — Co-Sponsored by FirstLight!
Tech Spotlight Topic presenter Rob Simopolous, Co-Founder of Defendify, shared his experience “Launching a Tech Startup in Maine.”
Rob discussed his experience and process launching Defendify, a local startup that makes cybersecurity possible for small business. The group learned about Defendify’s wins, challenges, and journey from idea to inception to current state. Defendify has been a Portland, Maine-based company from the beginning, and Rob and business partner Andrew Rinaldi are proud to have worked with many exceptional organizations such as MTI (Maine Technology Institute), FAME (Finance Authority of Maine), and MVF (Maine Venture Fund), as well as other entrepreneurs throughout the state.

MTUG is grateful to our Peers & Beers Co-Sponsor — FirstLight (www.firstlight.net) — for their generous support of this event!

MTUG also thanks our volunteer board members Jamers Harder and Mark Hopper for assistance researching the speaker/topic for this session.
MTUGs Peers and Beers events are a chance for IT professionals and enthusiasts to network in an informal setting while learning about a unique technology topic. There are usually four or five Peers & Beers events (in addition to MTUG Webinars) held each season at locations across Maine.

Webinar: Agile in the Trenches - A Technologis s View of Agile in the Real World
2020-01-15 11:00 - 12:00 | ME
Let’s face it, the implementation of a pure Agile methodology is hard to attain. Project teams are distributed, resources not fully committed, and there are so many tools to support collaboration it can be hard to know what will work best.
This Webinar explores applying the Utopian concepts of Agile software development in a hybrid IT Organization. Topics include:

team make-up,
effective practices,
tooling,
process, and
workload balancing.

Webinar: Internal Collaboration Tools - which one is right for my organization?
2019-12-11 11:00 - 12:00 | ME
Join Heather Bouffard, Director of Marketing and Communications at Community Health Options, for an overview of current industry offerings and trends in workplace collaboration tools. We will review the top competitors in this hotly contested market and discuss what organizations should consider when deploying and managing a company wide collaboration tool.
Will Kilbreth, Chief Information Officer at Community Health Options, and an MTUG volunteer Board Member, arranged for the speaker and topic for this event. He will be working with Heather during the presentation, to help with questions, and add related experience as well.

Webinar: 5G Deployment Strategies, Capabilities, & Use Cases
2019-11-13 11:00 - 12:00 | ME
Telecom industry leaders Joshua Broder, CEO of Tilson Technology Management, and Thomas Hulings, Senior Manager of Business Strategy, U.S. Cellular, take a detailed look at 5G capabilities, deployment strategies, and use cases.
Thomas Hulings discusses the capabilities of 5G and how these capabilities are enabling new use cases across a diverse range of industries and segments. Specific use cases covered include Broadband Fixed Wireless Access, Education and Healthcare. Thomas also discusses the timing of 5G and evolution of 5G networks.
Joshua Broder describes 5G networks, provides an overview of how they will be delivered, and provides some technical details and use cases about the next generation of fixed and mobile wireless tech. At the time of this presentation, Tilson was deploying 5G networks for several major carriers, as well as consulting with business and government users on how to leverage these networks. Josh provides some field notes about pilot projects and some of the first commercial scale deployments.

MTUG thanks our board members Michael Begin and Tonia Ennis for arranging the speaker and topic for this session.

Waterville Peers & Beers co-sponsored with Robert Half Technology
2019-10-23 16:30 - 18:30 | Waterville Brewing Company, Hathaway Center, Waterville, 10 Water St #111, Waterville
On October 23, MTUG hosted our first “Elm City” Peers & Beers — cosponsored by Robert Half Technology!
Waterville Brewing at the Hathaway Creative Center was stop #2 on our Maine 5-brewery tour, with catering by Holy Cannoli!
TECH SPOTLIGHT TOPIC: “Preventing Your Next Cyber Loss” with Frank Appunn, Security Consultant, InfraGard Member, and IT & Management Professor at Thomas College
Frank brings his experiences and recent research to this fast-paced overview of some specific and surprising security concerns we should anticipate in 2020 to 2024, affecting smaller and large organizations, including government, healthcare, manufacturing, service providers, and finance/banking sectors.

MTUG is grateful to our Peers & Beers Co-Sponsor — Robert Half Technology (www.roberthalf.com) — for their generous support of this event!

MTUG also thanks our volunteer board members Eugene Slobodzian and Jamers Harder for assistance coordinating the speaker/topic for this session.
MTUGs Peers and Beers events are a chance for IT professionals and enthusiasts to network in an informal setting while learning about a unique technology topic. There are usually four or five Peers & Beers events (in addition to MTUG Webinars) held each season at locations across Maine.
Would your organization like to sponsor an MTUG Peers & Beers event or get involved in another way? Visit the Get Involved page for information on how to be an event sponsor, or other opportunities!

Webinar: Industrial IoT SCADA and Security Considerations
2019-10-09 11:00 - 12:00 | ME
Industrial IoT/SCADA Context and Security Considerations
Justin Hogue discusses the Industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT) in control and monitoring systems (commonly referred to as SCADA  Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) with an eye toward Maines varied and often rural industrial sectors and a look at security concerns specific to this sector.
Justin covers challenges around managing and securing sensor networks and SCADA systems, and provides practical, real-life approaches for simplifying and securing data from remote and previously isolated locations. In addition, the discussion explores a methodology for developing communication security strategies for industrial and utility networks, drawing samples from deployments that maximize bandwidth and ensure redundancy using cellular technology. Lastly, the speaker touches on considerations/questions operations personnel should ask when evaluating solutions.

MTUG thanks our Board Member/Coordinators Mike Begin and Austin Brower for arranging the speaker/topic for this session.

Webinar: Broadband Progress in Maine
2019-09-25 11:00 - 12:00 | ME
Broadband Progress: Where we are, and strategies for making the case.
Broadband Progress: Where we are, and strategies for making the case. In this webinar, MTUG features a legislative and programmatic update on broadband expansion in Maine from two of Maines frontline advocates, Peggy Schaffer of the ConnectME Authority and Nick Battista of the Island Institute, both of whom also serve on the advisory committee for the Maine Broadband Coalition.
Peggy and Nick briefly present the array of programs in place for improving broadband access statewide, how communities can engage them, and the legislative pipeline that may help (or hinder) progress. The speakers also discuss case studies of how some communities have engaged these efforts to introduce or improve high speed internet access, and the impact it has had.
Lastly, speakers cover the points that technology leaders can make in their effort to improve broadband access for their operations, their employees, and their customers.
Want to help out with mapping Broadband in your area?
Curious about the reported service in other communities?
Link to spreadsheets of unserved and MLAB test site for reporting broadband speed:
https://www.maine.gov/connectme/communities-resources/Broadbandmapping
Check out upcoming important Maine Broadband-related events coming soon – listed at MaineBroadbandCoalition.org

Thurs. Oct. 24, 2019 – Biddeford – GrowSmart Maine Annual Summit, “Smart Growth Builds Wellness”
Mon. & Tues. Oct. 28 & 29, 2019 – Thomas College, Waterville – Maine Broadband Annual Summit

MTUG thanks our volunteer Board Members James Harder and Joe Bouragult for assisting with this session.

Portland Peers & Beers co-sponsored with Centripetal
2019-09-05 16:30 - 18:30 | Allagash Brewery, Portland, 50 Industrial Wy, Portland
MTUG hosted our season-opening Peers & Beers on Thursday Sept 5, 2019 — co-sponsored with Centripetal!
Allagash Brewery was stop #1 on our 5 city tour of Maine breweries!
TECH TOPIC: Brief Intro & Demo to Tabletop Exercises (TTX)
The evening featured a short Tech Spotlight presentation, Brief Intro & Demo to Table Top Security Exercises (TTX) delivered by Will Kilbreth, MTUG Board Member and CIO at Community Health Options, with demo participation from MTUG community members John Holland also of CHO, and Colin Little of Centripetal, as well as MTUG boardmembers Joe Bourgault and James Harder. The presenters/participants gave a brief Security Table Top demo with a lot of great audience participation!
Tabletop exercises are informal roundtables held with key resources to evaluate hypothetical, simulated emergency incident(s).
More About Tabletop Exercises:
The goal of the exercise is to identify uncertainties, unknowns, and possible risks the organization may need to respond to. Tabletops should foster constructive discussions among participants as they examine existing operational plans and determine where they can make improvements. Such exercises provide an opportunity for planning, preparation, and coordination of resources during any kind of attack or other incident.
Key Roles and Areas of Responsibility

Communications / Media
Helpdesk
Security
Infrastructure
Development
Legal / Compliance
Leadership

Methodology

Set goals and objectives
Determine players
Have a facilitator / game master
Develop script and data Inserts
Document what youve learned / next steps

MTUG also announced our 2019-20 Monthly Webinar/Peers & Beers schedule to come!

MTUG thanks our event Co-Sponsor — Centripetal (www.centripetal.com) — for their generous support of this event!

MTUG also thanks its event coordinators for this P&B event, volunteer MTUG board members Wil Kilbreth, Joe Bourgault, and Austin Brower.

MTUGs Peers and Beers events are a chance for IT professionals and enthusiasts to network in an informal setting while learning about a unique technology topic. There are usually four or five Peers & Beers events (in addition to 7 or so MTUG Webinars) held each season at locations across Maine.
Would your organization like to sponsor an MTUG Peers & Beers event or get involved in another way? Visit the Get Involved page for information on how to be an event sponsor, or other opportunities!

MTUG's 32nd Annual Summit & Tradeshow - Maine's Largest Business Tech Event
2019-06-13 07:30 - 16:00 | Holiday Inn by the Bay, Portland, 88 Spring St, Portland
Join MTUG for our 32nd Annual I.T. Summit & Tradeshow! 500+ tech professionals, 60+ booth spaces, 15 competitively-selected workshops, 3 food events, and plenty of door prizes!

Bangor Peers & Beers co-sponsored with OTELCO!
2019-04-10 16:30 - 18:30 | Seasons Restaurant, Bangor, 427 Main St, Bangor
MTUG’s Bangor Peers & Beers was April 10, 2019, with co-sponsor OTELCO!

MTUG’s Peers & Beers events are a great chance to meet regional tech professionals and enthusiasts, network, and learn a little about a new topic! Come out to Seasons on Main St. Bangor for food, friends and our featured topic!
THANK YOU, OTELCO for being our Bangor Peers & Beers sponsor!

The evening’s “Tech Spotlight” highlighted Maine’s latest efforts to close the Digital Divide
Lindsay Ouellette of the National Digital Equity Center discussed the activities to advance technology literacy, and broadband uptake, in rural counties. Angela Oechslie also discussed Project>Login’s TechHire Maine work to grow Maine’s tech workforce.

MTUG will also highlight our upcoming 2019 I.T. Summit & Tradeshow event coming June 13.

Webinar: Microsoft Teams Deployment at RMS
2019-03-27 11:00 - 12:00 | ME
Please join us for the final MTUG Webinar of the 2018-19 season!
Kent Goodrow of Systems Engineering and Nate Flynn of Residential Mortgage Services (RMS) discuss the nuts and bolts of creating and working with Microsoft Teams at the RMS implementation, including:

what happens when you create a Team,
how Teams relate to O365 groups,
Outlook, SP, and OD,
how/when to be careful of creating Teams, and
a suggested implementation strategy for Teams + SP O365.

MTUG thanks volunteer board members Joe Bourgault and James Harder for coordinating the speaker and topic for this event.

Webinar: Supporting Collaboration with Technology
2019-02-27 11:00 - 12:00 | ME
The technology landscape is not just evolving faster — the people and processes in implementing technology are requiring more subject matter experts (SME’s) than ever before, across a wider set of disciplines than ever before. Companies looking to hire the best and brightest must compete on a endlessly-shifting playing field to garner talented people.
Scott Larsen discusses how your organization can build highly collaborative teams and allow you to utilize talent wherever you can find it. He covers the critical need to understand why your organization might want a collaborative or remote team, and gives insight into the practical details and real-world scenarios across various organizations with which he has worked. Balancing theory with practicality and reality, Scott will relay his real-world lessons for leading your organization in implementing collaborative processes and tools.
Software discussion will remain mostly agnostic but include a comparison of Scott’s experiences with tools such as Slack and Microsoft Teams. On the practical side, the presentation will look into philosophies of using different types of communications tools such as email vs. messaging tools vs. conference call tools, as well as the SLA’s behind personal communications, in managing teams.
MTUG thanks volunteer board member Uli Stewart (Vantage Point Recruiting) for coordinating the speaker and topic for this month’s presentation.

Lewiston Peers & Beers co-sponsored by SymQuest
2019-01-30 16:30 - 18:30 | Marco’s Ristorante, 12 Mollison Way, Lewiston, 12 Mollison Way, Lewiston
MTUG hosted a Lewiston”Peers & Beers” with Co-Sponsor SymQuest!
The event was the evening of Wed, Jan 30, 2019 at Marco’s Ristorante, 12 Mollison Way, Lewiston. MTUG extends a HUGE THANK YOU to our event co-sponsor, SymQuest!

The evening featured a “Spotlight on User Groups / Tech Groups”! (groups listed below)
Get the most updated info on these groups, and others, at MTUG’s “User Groups Across Maine” Directory Listing here.

Do you participate in a Tech Group that you’d like to share? Create an account “Profile” and create a “Company” Directory Listing for that group. Groups may also post events in our community calendar.

MTUG also highlighted our remaining 2018-19 season of informative educational events, AND a SAVE THE DATE for the upcoming 2019 I.T. Summit & Tradeshow on June 13, 2019!
MTUG is thankful for this event’s speaker/topic coordinators – the volunteer board members of the MTUG Outreach Committee: Uli Stewart, Tonia Ennis, Joe Bourgault and Jamie Jackson, as well as board member Mark Hopper.

Webinar: Multi-factor authentication at Bowdoin and Beyond
2019-01-16 11:00 - 12:00 | ME
Eric Berube walks through how multi-factor authentication (MFA) has been implemented at Bowdoin College, some of the challenges encountered and strategies used for a successful roll out. Looking ahead to what’s next, Eric will discuss the future roadmap for MFA and the steps necessary to reach those goals.
This session speaker and topic was coordinated by volunteer MTUG board member Christopher Falk.

Webinar: Microsoft Office Licensing, Strategies & the Microsoft "Ecosystem"
2018-12-12 11:00 - 12:00 | ME
Steve Hand and Ryan Thomas delve into the the latest strategies for Office 365 licensing and deployment, and philosophies for enterprise transformation through the Microsoft ecosystem.
Ryan Thomas discusses “Digital Transformation & Employee Engagement – How to Make it Happen with Office 365” focusing on the strategy, approach, and methods of implementing the tools and features of Office 365 with an intended goal of moving the needle of usage and capability with end users. The topics will include, strategy, vision, governance, training, architecture, administration, support, and how to approach these in ways designed to effect real change within an organization.
Steve Hand speaks to integrating Azure with Office 365 in continuation of the Digital Transformation philosophy. Additionally, Steve will address how organizations can successfully migrate their entire IT stack to the cloud, while touching upon potential licensing considerations.

Webinar: Cyber/Tech Careers & Internships Live from Project Login's Internship Fair
2018-11-14 10:00 - 22:50 | ME
MTUG was LIVE at the Project Login Internship Fair!
MTUG broadcast live from the setup of the Project Login Internship Fair at USM’s Hannaford Hall on Wed. 11/14/2018. We completed in time for listeners online and in the area to join the fair.
Caroline Dennis, Career Agent at Career CoolHunter, and MTUG director Kate Carpenter discuss resources for those seeking CyberSecurity Careers and internship pathways.
Learn more info about Project Login events here: http://www.projectlogin.com/events .

Breakfast & Webcast: "Security & the People Risk"
2018-10-24 07:30 - 09:30 | TIQA, 327 Commercial St., Portland, 327 Commercial St, Portland, Maine
“Security and the People Risk”
A Special Breakfast Workshop and Webcast co-sponsored by TEVORA!
Wednesday, October 24th MTUG held our Fall Breakfast & Webcast — a live-event webcast at TIQA on the Portland Waterfront. The event began with breakfast treats and networking at 7:30am. The presentation was at 8am, finishing up with Q&A shortly before 9a.
Accessing the Webinar Only: The webinar broadcast of the presentation started at 8:00am, available online at MTUG’s Webex Portal mtug.webex.com.
Event Schedule:

7:30am: In-person Breakfast Event Opens with Breakfast/Coffee

8:00 – 9:00am: Presentation (with Online Webex broadcast), with Q&A time near end

9:00 – 9:30am: Networking

In this session, Frank Appunn discusses how enterprises can reduce one of the largest cybersecurity risk areas  People. Using existing systems, processes, and structures, plus a limited budget, to make significant improvements to your security posture.
This workshop draws on formal research completed in Maine, plus further research and content to provide a comprehensive review of improved practices regarding users of information systems. It considers employees, contractors, and consultant, together with extensions for customer and supplier access.
Attendees learned about current approaches to reduce people risks. There are immediate and low-cost ways to reduce risks, measure, and pinpoint areas where the organization can improve. The presentation then addresses the five specific strategies to make improvements.
MTUG thanks boardmember Mark Hopper for his assistance with coordinating the speaker and assisting with the facility for this session. MTUG also extends a huge thank you to our Breakfast Webcast Co-Sponsor, TEVORA! (www.tevora.com)
Location & Parking Details: TIQA is located along the Portland Waterfront, on Commercial Street, near the west end of the Old Port. Plenty of parking should be available on-street and in nearby lots on a first-come, first-served basis.

Augusta Peers & Beers co-sponsored by CGI
2018-10-10 16:30 - 18:30 | The Gin Mill above Riverside BBQ, Augusta, 302 Water St, Augusta, Maine, United States
MTUG hosts our AUGUSTA “Peers & Beers” – Co-Sponsored by CGI !
The event was WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2018 from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm at The Gin Mill (above/behind Riverfront BBQ), 302 Water St., Augusta, Maine. MTUG extends a HUGE THANK YOU to our generous event co-sponsor, CGI!

The evening featured a brief “Tech Spotlight” presentation:
“How to implement egress filtering without becoming the most hated person in the organization.”
Archie Woodworth of Maine Medical Center delves into the art of implementing an egress filtering process without engendering scorn from your colleagues. This is why we provide the beer, folks!

MTUG also highlighted our other the upcoming 2018-19 season of informative educational webinars, Breakfast webinar event, and Peers & Beers events that run from fall through spring, covering a variety of business technology topics. We also announced the spring date of our Conference (June 13), and our Scholarship program!
MTUG is thankful for this event’s volunteer coordinator, board member John Foley, for arranging for our speaker.
MTUGs Peers and Beers events are a chance for IT professionals and enthusiasts to network in an informal setting while learning about a unique technology topic. There are usually four held each season — two in the fall and two in the spring — at locations across Maine.

Webinar: L.L.Bean & Google Cloud
2018-09-19 11:00 - 12:00 | ME
Randy Dyer of L.L. Bean presents:
L.L. Bean and the Google Cloud Platform: “How a 106-year Old Retailer Modernizes Customer Experience Through Omnichannel Architecture“
Learn how LL Bean modernized its IT infrastructure by moving capabilities from its on premises systems to a cloud-native platform, improving customer satisfaction and IT efficiency across multiple sales channels.

Portland Peers & Beers - MTUG's Season Opener!
2018-08-22 16:30 - 18:30 | Bruno’s Restaurant & Tavern, Portland, 33 Allen Avenue, Portland, Maine, United States
The event was on WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2018 from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm at Bruno’s Tavern and Restaurant, 33 Allen Avenue, Portland, Maine. MTUG extends a HUGE THANK YOU to our generous event co-sponsor, Systems Engineering!
The evening featured a brief “Tech Spotlight” presentation:
“Transformation before Implementation
– A crafted continuous improvement cocktail!”
This talk focused on the main theme of Business Process Reengineering (BPR) that was hot in the 1990s, utilizing Lean Six Sigma that was popular in the 2000s and Agile Transformation that has taken hold in the last 10 years. The common theme that we tend to overlook is that all of these methodologies require a different mindset or a new way of looking at the value proposition. Most organizations miss this critical step before implementing new business process software.

BPR – begins with eliminating Non-Value-Added work, dated legacy policies, and manual efforts or paper based workflow.
Lean Six Sigma  Focus on the customer, improve and smooth the process flow, remove Non-Value-Added steps and waste.
Agile Transformation – Agile is an umbrella of values and principles that make up a framework to help organizations build agility. The basics behind an Agile Transformation is to ensure agility, collaboration, feedback loops, and to remove Non-Value-Added work by prioritizing with the business.
The common focus is on developing a more Business Centric approach to satisfy the critical success factors in your organization before implementing new software.

MTUG briefly demo’d their new website released this past winter, with new Job Board, Directory, and Tech Community Event posting tools to help MTUG promote
all the great events and initiatives tech groups across the state have for professionals to further their knowledge and networks.
Lastly, MTUG highlighted the upcoming 2018-19 season of informative educational webinars and Peers & Beers events that run from fall through spring,
and focus on a variety of business technology topics.
MTUGs Peers and Beers events are a chance for IT professionals and enthusiasts to network in an informal setting while learning about a unique technology
topic. There are usually four held each season — two in the fall and two in the spring — at locations across Maine.
